The people will save the town

I attended an interesting meeting last Wednesday and one of the persons attending the meeting made a very appropriate comment. He said, “The council of Fort Frances is not going to save the town! The people of the community will save the town!” And when the words had settled at the meeting, I realized how right he was.
As I think back to all of the major changes in Fort Frances and across the district, it has never been the actions of a council, or a chamber that have made the difference. It has always been the energy of the 17,000 citizens of the district that have made the difference.
It was the community that built the Memorial Arena to recognize the valour of the men and women who gave their lives in the World Wars.
It was the people of the communities of the Rainy River district who put up funding for the modernization of hospitals in Rainy River, Emo and Fort Frances. It was those same individuals who in only a short span of weeks raised the funds to create a performing arts centre attached to Fort High. And when pushed again they raised an equal amount for Ice for Kids. Similar support built the LaVallee Emo arena in Emo.
It has been the people of the district who stepped forward to acquire a CT scanner for Riverside and again this past year a digital mammography machine.
When push was required over 900 volunteers stepped forward to showcase Fort Frances and the District to visiting scholars and citizens from over 40 different countries for the World Health Conference. Without the hundreds of volunteers, the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship would never have been successful, not the Emo Fair, nor the Emo Walleye Tournament nor the Rainy River Walleye tournament.
Communities and Chambers can set the table for successful projects, but it is the people who will make them successful. When volunteers have been called upon for a purposeful project, across the district they have rallied to the cause.
Now with a downturn in the woods industry across the district, it will be the citizens who will have to rally to create new opportunities in the towns and communities to maintain schools, businesses, health facilities and to grow the economy of the district to create new jobs and additional opportunities.
Now the new purpose of citizens of the district will be to transform the economy and economic focal points. The ideas, and support for those ideas will be the difference. Risks will have to be taken, but without risk there can be little reward. The district has proven that it can take risks and it can grown and overcome adversity. The people will be the difference.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher